Ouch: strut bearing cap caput

[conkeytonk]

Working on a suspension upgrade I pulled and disassembled the front struts only to find the sealed roller bearing in one of the bearing caps leaking grease and ball beatings exposed. She turned with a bid of resistance but not nearly as nicely as the other bearing cap. Further inspection revealed different sealed bearings inside the two caps leading me to believe the PO had replaced or rebuilt one. Given the cost of the post ’86 bearing caps assemblies, can they be rebuilt?

[Zero10]

87+ upper strut mounts are stupidly expensive. This is because of the design change that Porsche made to eliminate road noise through the mounts (IIRC). I have seen people talking about putting in the -86 mounts, but I seem to recall that they have different physical dimensions and that it would not work.

I do not believe they are rebuildable at all, however the far cheaper option is to install aftermarket camber plates. They are more durable than the stock mounts and cheaper too.

[flash968]

there is a drawback to camber plates

besides the obvious rookie pitfall of thinking that you can swap back and forth settings from street to track and get anywhere near a real setting................

the solid mounting of the bearings transfer a LOT more road impact to the chassis - if you have replaced other bushings with spherical bearings, this can prove to be annoying - i made this mistake - i replaced every bushing on the car with spherical bearings - great - then i put in similar units for the strut towers - immediately every little bump and bounce was transmitted to my dash

out they came, and back in went the rubber units

[conkeytonk]

Okay I’ll consider the camber plates simply for their price but would prefer a more “touring” style ride. I might mention that I am going with KONI Sports at all four corners and slightly lowered front springs coupled with a front strut bar all of which has already set me back.

What about this: The bearing still rotates and the balls are intact, it’s just that the outer seal was compromised on the spring perch side and dirt got in. Clean it as best you can, re-grease with a syringe then cover it with an epoxy resin similar to the goo I used to rebuild the aluminum control arm ball joints (still have some left). And just exactly what would happen if the roller bearing failed anyway?

There has to be another alternative to a ridiculous 5-Benjemin strut bearing.

[flash968]

not sure how long that would work, presuming there is no play in the bearing - you would have to use a very heavy grease too

there are some inexpensive spherical units out there, AND if the rest of the suspension stays rubber AND you don't go too far on spring rate, AND you keep the damping down on the struts, they might be ok

[Techno Duck]

Randy, the KLA monoball strut mounts are a nice part and held up very well to the abuse i put them through.. 40k+ miles of street use, plenty of trips into NYC (The BQE and Jackie Robinson arent know for great road conditions), tons of auto-x and a few track days. They are about $200 a pair. I never noticed any major increased noise or harshness. I would buy them again if i was not considering camber plates for my 951 right now.

Alternatively i have a good set of used upper mounts for a later car if your interested in them, ill sell them for considerably less than a new OEM one.. .

[conkeytonk]

Thanks Flash, just found a spherical unit for 2-bills a pair. Now THATS the answer.

[flash968]

the kla units are the ones i put in and then immediately removed - again, i had no rubber anywhere, so it was definitely a worst case scenario - just too much for civility - it seems there has to be rubber somewhere

[conkeytonk]

I was indeed eyeballing the KLA's, Jon. Thanks for the offer on the OE's but I guess I'll go that route unless they are like really inexpensive. I wonder if one were to replace the glue-on seal between the chassis and bearing, would it at least keep any noise down? And are these reasonably priced seals compatable with the KLA's?

[Techno Duck]

Randy, you can buy the factory seal still. I dont remember the part # but it was basically a foam seal with one adhesive side. I figure you can use foam weatherstrip cut down to size from Home Depot.. they make a similar diameter one with an adhesive backing. I did not use that seal with the KLA mounts i had on my '87, i never noticed a difference honestly.

Id sell those other mounts for maybe $55 shipped. I have no use for them anymore.

[Zero10]

Originally Posted by conkeytonk

Thanks Flash, just found a spherical unit for 2-bills a pair. Now THATS the answer.

The upper mount is bolted to the shock absorber. If you have really stiff shocks and springs then you will get excessive noise and vibration, however if you are running a streetable suspension then you have nothing to worry about. If the upper mounts in my 87 ever fail that is what I am replacing them with.

I should have said those instead of camber plates. Those were the exact units I had in mind.

Don't worry much about the foam between the mount and the body. You want no play at all when the plates are mounted. Re-use whatever is on there now, it is just to keep the metal parts from rubbing and causing a corrosion problem.

[onZedge]

Originally Posted by flash968

the kla units are the ones i put in and then immediately removed - again, i had no rubber anywhere, so it was definitely a worst case scenario - just too much for civility - it seems there has to be rubber somewhere

Point well taken Bob, HOWEVER, at what front spring rate? I would think that dashboard shaking would not be too much of a concern with stock or mildly stiffer-than-stock front springs - even with monoball a-arm joints.

[flash968]

i've been playing with a lot of different spring rates - right now, i am only running 300# springs up front - i had 400# ones in there, but they are too stiff for street

all is fine, right up until i put in the monoball strut bearings - that was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back - there needs to be some rubber in there to maintain civility - i have none in the lower suspension - in addition to taht i have a strut tower brace, and a lower suspension brace to deal with the very soft frame design - the only remaining rubber piece was that bearing - the minute i removed it, the dash starting making noise with every bump, no matter what i did to the compression setting on the strut - once i put the oem ones back in, all was right with the world again

i probably could run those though if i wanted to go back to rubber lower bushings - but, that would seriously compromise the handling i now enjoy

i do know somebody else who deals those, and they won't recommend them for street if you are changing any of the other bushings to monoball, regardless of spring rate - it's really an "either/or" thing

they do tighten up the steering though